Page 55 of Where Do We Go From Here?
T: Well, you will one day. And you’ll like her. She’s gorgeous.
W: Good, well, I look forward to it.
T: Are you …? Um… Are you, um, coming back for any, you know, visits? Or are you staying out there until May or whenever?
W: April. I’m out here till April.
T: Right. Yeah, I knew that. Course I did.
T: So are you phoning for a particular reason, or…?
W: No, not really. I was just talking to a friend about?—
T: You have a friend?
W: I… Um… Yes.
T: Sorry. I mean, in France. You have a friend in France?
W: I do. She’s the post lady. And she was telling me about her brother, and it made me think of you and Fifi. I miss you. I miss you both.
T: Did you phone my evil sister as well, then? I haven’t heard from her in ages.
W: No, only you. I spoke with Fiona a few days ago, though. She seems fine.
T:
W: Sorry, why is that funny? Did I miss something?
T: Oh, just, you know… Fiona beingfine.
W: Why do you say that? Isn’t she fine?
T: Oh, she’s probably fine as far as she’s concerned. She always is. It’s just to everyone else she’s a bloody nightmare.
W: Ahhh! Sibling rivalry.
T: Nah, just observing a family trait, I think.
W: What family trait would that be, then?
T: Being a nightmare, maybe?
W: Haha. Very funny, Todd. So, what have you been up to? Tell me.
By the time she hangs up, she has learned that Matti drove them all to Margate at the weekend, where they had fish and chips and played the slot machines. Margate has quite a ‘cool vibe’ according to Todd, something she pretended to be flabbergasted about even though she’s heard this repeatedly over the last few years. Kids love being reassured that their parents are out of touch, and it’s hard not to play up to that.
Other than the Margate escapade, Todd’s news had been rather sparse, so sparse in fact that she’d launched into a brief, ill-advised monologue about the honest conversations she’d been having with her French teacher and how nice it would be if they could communicate more openly as a family.
Todd had laughed at this idea. ‘Yeah, well, you’re not the postie’s mum, are you? Otherwise she wouldn’t tell you anything at all.’
Wendy steps outside and lights a cigarette. The evening is unusually warm and it’s difficult to imagine that snow is on its way.
She blows the smoke into the breeze and retraces fragments of the conversation in her mind. Todd’s ‘joke’ about their nightmare family trait – had that been a dig at her, or merely self-mockery? She suspects it was the former, but she’s glad she managed to resist reacting. And Fiona… Does Todd really resent her? Or is that, too, just habit?
And finally, Christmas. God, there it is! Amazingly she has managed to completely avoid thinking about Christmas until now, and for a moment there she still believed she could blankout Todd’s almost-mention of it as well. But no, here it is, thundering towards her like a big red steamroller.
